Does California High-Speed Rail Promote Accessibility for Station Cities? Case study of Fresno and Merced

The California Central Valley cities of Fresno and Merced are likely to experience increased travel activity once the California High-Speed Rail (CHSR) project is operational according to the simulated results of using a gravity model (Wang et al., 2017). This is a result at the regional level regarding the effect of CHSR on station cities. The CHSR would also change the accessibility of a station city because residents in a station city can access more jobs and services in other station cities along the CHSR corridor. Therefore, it is extremely important to calculate accessibility with the consideration of the CHSR (i.e., daily living sphere) and identify winners and losers through the “before and after” comparison. Some areas in a station city would have better job and service accessibility and some will not. These results will provide transportation planners with information to evaluate improved connections to the local transportation network (e.g., transit, bike sharing) to improve accessibility and reduce inequality. Such a research framework is needed for station cities to promote overall accessibility and equal development.